Advocacy Isn't Binary

We might sometimes think of animal advocacy as binary—all or nothing, full-time activist or do-nothing bystander.

But this is a misperception; getting involved in advocating for animals is not binary at all, and we probably do ourselves a disservice when we think of it as such, leading ourselves (and others) to choose the "nothing" option because we feel like we can't commit to "everything"—especially when life gets hard and we're faced with health challenges, job challenges, and so on.

Doing 10 minutes of advocacy-related activities per week is more than doing 0 minutes. Doing 1 hour is more than doing 10 minutes, and 5 hours is more than 1 hour.

Writing one op-ed, or sending one email, or making one phone call, or going to one event, is greater than zero. Helping one animal is more than helping none—and it makes a big difference to the one you've helped.

How you use your advocacy time also matters quite a lot. If you can be strategic with your time and energy, then 1 hour of work could result in more impact for animals than 40 hours of less strategic work.

Of course, sometimes you need to do lots of less impactful work to discover those more-impactful ways. Experimentation, exploration, and fumbling about are all necessary; but nevertheless, asking the question "am I being thoughtful and strategic with my advocacy?" is always a good idea.

So, ask yourself—where are you now, with your personal level of investment in animal advocacy? Where do you want to be? And can you gradually shift yourself from where you are to where you want to be, making the transition in a sustainable and lasting way?